As Conservation-Minded Anglers, We Should Support This Top Photo: Squat Lobster on Coral in Nygren Canyon. Credit: NOAA OKEANOS Explorer Program, 2013 Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition Last year the Obama Administration announced that it was considering what could possibly be the nation’s first marine monument off the continental U.S. Of course, it touched off a […]
Author Archives: John McMurray
‘National Ocean Policy’ and What It Really Means for Us
As the Northeast releases a regional plan and the Mid Atlantic gets ready to release theirs, we should be paying attention Okay… This is not a sexy topic. And I hesitate to even write about it here, but damn if it isn’t important… For us… For everyone. And frankly, most of us, including myself up […]
Because It’s All About The Bait…
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is holding a public comment period on an important amendment to their fishery management plans, and you need to weigh in! I haven’t posted a blog in a while. Because, well, because I’ve been absolutely hammering the striped bass. In fact I’ve been booked solid, sometimes doing two trips a […]
False Albacore IS Bait
A Rare Opportunity Exists To Protect An Extraordinary Animal False albies are awesome… If you’ve ever stuck one, and listened to the sweet music of line screaming off your reel, you know this. Undoubtedly, they are, pound-for-pound, the strongest, fastest fish regularly inshore of 20 fathoms, and in many ways they are the perfect light-tackle/flyfishing […]
Wind Power Off Of Long Island? Bring It On!
As a Massive Wind Farm Off Of Western Long Island Moves One Step Closer To Reality, We Should Support It If you’ve spent more than a few days on the water, you absolutely get it that the wind blows harder and more uniformly offshore. I’m frequently reminded of this simple truth by a dousing of […]
Busted in New England
Undercover Sting Shows Us Why We Need Better Monitoring of the Fleet Generally, I try my best to avoid writing about New England. Mostly because it’s a train wreck. It’s really the perfect example of what happens when for decades you avoid imposing hard quotas on managed fisheries. Gulf of Maine Cod, the iconic New […]
On Protecting Those Go-To Spots
“Ocean Planning” Offers Anglers An Opportunity We Should Take If you’ve spent any real time offshore, you know that some spots are more “fishy” than others. To any fishermen worth his/her salt, that’s just a given. Often, a spot’s productivity is due to hard-bottom, structure or rapid depth changes. But other times, for no particular […]
With Striped Bass, We’d Better Pay Attention
Opening Up Federal Waters off Montauk/Block Island to Striped Bass Harvest is Another Bad Idea These days, even the most novice striped bass anglers understand that harvest of striped bass in “federal” waters (from three miles out to 200) is against the law. Such area has been designated as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It’s […]